A devastating right hand dropped Eastman, and a flurry of punches followed to force the stoppage.

After enduring a stretch of three losses in four bouts to top-10 caliber middleweights Gegard Mousasi, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Kazuo Misaki, Kang has now earned first round victories in his past two bouts.

Before Kang’s three losses, the PRIDE, DREAM, K-1, Pancrase and Spirit MC veteran had been undefeated for over three years — a span of 23 bouts. Kang has notable wins over Akihiro Gono, Amar Suloev, Murilo “Ninja” Rua and Mark Weir, among others.

For Eastman, the loss was his second-straight first-round defeat. Eastman’s last outing was a June defeat at the hands of Drew McFedries at “The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale.”

“Raw Combat: Redemption” was the second event in 2008 for the organization. Resurrected from an 11-year layoff after the disbanding of Canada’s Hardcore Championship Fighting, Raw Combat’s June event featured David Loiseau, Dan Hornbuckle, Nabil Khatib and Travis Galbraith.

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.